If you say that someone farms out work, especially work that you would normally expect them to do themselves, you mean that they give it to other people to do.
The trend for corporate legal staffs is to do more work in-house, instead of farmingit out to law firms. [V n Pto n]
We can take advantage of new technology more quickly by farming out computer operations. [VERBPARTICLE noun (not pronoun)]
They've tended to farm out work to consultants. [VP n (not pron) to n]
[Also VERB noun PARTICLE]
See full dictionary entry for farm
farm out in British English
verb(tr, adverb)
1.
to send (work) to be done by another person, firm, etc; subcontract
2.
to put (a child, etc) into the care of a private individual; foster
3.
to lease to another for a rent or fee the right to operate (a business for profit, land, etc) or the right to collect (taxes)
farm out in American English
1.
to rent (land, a business, etc.) in return for a fixed payment
2.
to send (work) from a shop, office, etc. to workers on the outside
3.
to let out the labor of (a convict, etc.) for a fixed amount
4.
to destroy the fertility of (land), as by failing to rotate crops
5. US, Baseball
to assign to a farm (sense 5)
See full dictionary entry for farm
Examples of 'farm out' in a sentence
farm out
"We always have Cinderella to farm out to the highest bidder," says Margarethe.
Gregory Maguire CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER (1999)